London to Brighton (2008)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Absolutely brilliant

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Would you like to be really depressed for eighty five minutes? London to Brighton will accomplish that and more. Set in the underbelly of London's seedy crime world, this is the story of eleven year old runaway Joanne, who, at the start is coerced into prostitution by her companion, Kelly. Her first client is an old mobster who ends up dead before deflowering the young girl. This sets off a chain of events, with the dead man's son, Derek looking for his father's killer.Everyone in the film is constantly drinking , smoking, and behaving badly in general. The working class criminals speak with Cockney accents, which grew tiresome to this American's ears after a while. The actors are convincing, as if they were recruited from prison. Georgia Groome is outstanding as Joanne, the troubled young girl at the center of the movie. Gritty and sad, London to Brighton will not brighten up your day.

Few films ever live up to expectation, and when I read the blurb for this one I did wonder if there might be a similar letdown.Not likely, though.Paul Andrew Williams has crafted a drama, with thrilling overtones, which could stand almost as a companion piece to Gary Oldman's Nil By Mouth from 1997. Yet this is a film which stands entirely on its own, and even puts Nil By Mouth in the shade with an ending both realistic and poignant.The performances are excellent. Georgia Groome is disturbingly believable as a 12 year-old girl caught in the world of vice, and Lorraine Stanley, as a prostitute caught between her conscience and a need to stay alive, is similarly gut-wrenching. Also effective is Sam Spruell as a very unpleasant man called Stuart Allen, a man representative of the London underworld, and a man determined to track the above two young women down with frightening and horrific consequences.The star turn though, is arguably Johnny Harris. As Derek, he will make your flesh crawl, yet, despite his many shortcomings - and be warned, his character is repellent - there is something also vaguely humorous about him. His facial expressions when talking and listening to his boss are comic to behold. Derek is terrified of Spruell's Mr Allen, and with good reason. That terror, combined with his own greed and need to save his own neck give the film an extra dimension.This is a seriously good film.It is not easy to watch, and some of the violence and language are hard to take, but in a tepid film industry such as Britain's, the arrival of a talent such as this should be noticed.Paul Andrew Williams, it's time to make your next move. May it be as great as this one.

There aren't many films of this genre (the late night TV film/filmfour film) which will grip you like this film does. I think, literally, I spent about half an hour in the doorway to the lounge, trying to leave the room in order to make a drink... but my eyes were fixed to the screen, and my feet fixed to the floor.I think this film speaks to you in a way you can't describe, you are along for the ride and you have bought 100% into the characters (save one 'baddy') - the director/cast/et al managed to produce something greater than the sum of it's parts. The film is fantastic and yet some of the parts really shouldn't add up to something so good.Excellent for what it is. Those who like to go on an emotional journey, a journey with the characters, an unpleasant and sometimes pillow-gripping journey, but a rewarding one none-the-less.

In 2001, Dr. Richard Estes and Dr. Neil Alan Weiner estimated that there are one million child prostitutes in the world and the average age of entry into prostitution is between 11 and 13. This disturbing subject has been largely ignored by the movies, with the exception of Lilya-4-Ever and Paul Williams' London to Brighton. Containing stellar performances by Lorraine Stanley as Kelly, a street-smart prostitute, and Georgia Groome as Joanne, an 11-year-old runaway, London to Brighton is a low budget but gritty, uncompromising thriller that dramatizes the lives of two young prostitutes, the predators who prey on them, and the criminal underworld of British society.Though it is sometimes hard to watch because of the graphic violence, the film conveys a sense of humanity that shines through the despair. As London to Brighton begins, two hysterical young girls hide in a public toilet in London's Victoria Station in the middle of the night The younger girl, possibly only 11 or 12, her face smeared with lipstick and bruises, cries copious tears while the older, chubbier girl tries to comfort her though her own face is a mass of welts and black and blue marks. Both girls are hiding from their pimp Derek (Johnny Harris) and his client Stuart Allen (Sam Spruell) after a botched job in which the client's father, Duncan Allen (Alexander Morton) died in the client's apartment.It began when Kelly, on orders from Derek, went scouting for an underage girl to match the needs of his wealthy client. Now on the run, Kelly leaves Joanne in the rest room while she does some "work" to obtain money to visit a safe house in Brighton. The film unfolds in a non-linear fashion and we gradually learn the sordid details in flashbacks. As the girls head to Brighton to take cover, Derek and his cohort Chum (Nathan Constance), forced to take action against the girls before they have to pay the price themselves, are determined to track them down.Recently released on a subtitled DVD that includes a commentary by the director and others, an alternate ending, and eight deleted scenes, London to Brighton packs a wallop. Energy and tension adorn the film from start to finish, a span of only 85 minutes. Though some of the scenes indicate a sense of lost hope, in the courage and loving protectiveness of Kelly and the childlike innocence of Joanne, there is also a sense of possibility. Winner of the Best New Director Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival with a style reminiscent of the raw immediacy of Shane Meadows and the social awareness of Ken Loach, Paul Williams in London to Brighton has delivered an outstanding first feature.